


BTTWB

by Ro_Kip, ShadeOfTheNight



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Loki is a valid boy, Nick is a dick, Not Steve Friendly, Pietro Maximoff Lives, Pietro is a good bro, SHIELD sucks, Salt, Scar is Better Then The Witch Bitch, Wanda Is A Bitch, basically everyone is here, it quarantine and we have nothing better to do, not team Cap friendly, not wanda maximoff friendly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:15:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24484921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ro_Kip/pseuds/Ro_Kip, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadeOfTheNight/pseuds/ShadeOfTheNight
Summary: What if consequences where a thing in the mcu?What if marvel was allowed to have mutants in the start?What if SHIELD had some mutants in there possession?What if we explore the what if?SHIELD was never a kind organization, Cap was nothing but a lair, and dead innocents are just casualties.But we will see that change through the eyes of two mutants who just wants to be free from the cage that their in and make a home in world they live in.(this will likely not get far off the ground)
Relationships: Ben Parker/May Parker (Spider-Man), Bruce Banner & Tony Stark, Mary Parker/Richard Parker, Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Original Character(s), Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 7
Kudos: 24





	1. #025

**Author's Note:**

> Shade: This was born of our hatred for Teem cap and love for Peter Parker. #025 was born from the fact that when taking what is your superpower quiz's I only got mental powers as a response.
> 
> Ro_Kip: This came from spiting ideas at the wall and seeing what stuck,and most did. This is probably not going any where, it's just a thing that we did.

#  **Mutant #025**

_ Sex:  Female _

_Date Of Birth: xx/xx/1996_

_ Nationality:  caucasian _

_ Powers: _

  * _Telepathy_
  * _Telekinesis_
  * _Simplified Omnikinesis_



_ History:  _

_ #025 was born and raised in xxxxxxx by her Mother and Father until the age of 12-13 when her father died in a car crash with her in it. The trauma from the incident caused her powers to awaken at a relatively low level. #025 was able to keep her abilities hidden for a time until a moment of intense stress after she had reached puberty.  _

_ The combination of the stress and changes in her body had caused her powers to spike in level to a disastrous degree. She had no control over her powers which increased #025 stress leading to even more of a spike in power levels. With this lack of control #025 began to levitate herself and other objects, including the family tractor. The tractor then proceeded to take off at an intense speed crashing and utterly demolishing a large barn. _

_ The tractor didn't stop at that though. It started to go towards a group of 15 people, including #025 and a young relative. She was able to get enough control to send the tractor into an empty field before passing out from Exhaustion. SHIELD was then contacted to contain her with no objections from the mother. _

  
  
  
  


##  _ Bang Bang Bang _

“Wake up! You’re expected to be ready in 5 minutes #025. Don’t be late.” The loud guard spoke through the metal door. A teenage girl roles off of the mattress onto the cold floor. Light blue streaks around the cool box, made of metal. This is the same sight that she had, everyday for the past however long she was in here for. Agents from SHIELD, as they called themselves, had put her into his box to keep her from harming others. It was for the greater good, they said, you’ll be free before you know it, they said. Well, it hasn’t happened yet. Even as she slid on her shoes and knocked on the door to shout,

“I’m ready for today!” Agents, with voice compressors around their ears and a set for her in their hands. She lowered her head for them to place the headset around her temples, squeezing them until they were satisfied. While her head was pressed, the agents clicked cuffs of iron on her wrists behind her back and around her wrists. 

“Alright 025. Let’s move.” They said as they dragged the girl through the white halls. She couldn’t walk on her own, let alone a speed that they had wanted. But soon enough they reached their destination. A pure white room, with some of the same blue streaks going through. The agents unclasped the cuffs and began poking wires through her brain and electro shocks around her neck. An agent placed a small helping of brown mush on the floor with some deep green plants.

“You may eat, 025. But not too much. We have a long day ahead of us.” One of them said as one by one they left the room. All except for one. An agent who went by the name of Mary approached the young girl. Mary sprayed some dry shampoo into 025’s head, and gave her a small salad. 

“I hope this helps you.” The agent smiled at her. But the young teen only opened the salad and started eating it very quietly. After she was done, Mary took back the half-full container and put it back into hiding.

“Now listen to me,” Mary said to her, “Today is going to be you being stressed out by the electricity and trying to lift some objects. I’ve convinced Fury to have you not have to wear the headset, but he wants results. Do you think you can manage that?” The young girl nodded and pointed to the place where the salad went.

“C-C…” She tried to speak, “Can...I...eat...more?” 025 spoke with a voice that hadn’t been used for a while, and looked up at Mary.

“I’m sorry, but no. Not right now. Maybe if I can sneak away during my lunch, okay?” Mary’s tired face tried to lift up for a small smile, which 025 mirrored.

“#025. Time to go.” A dark skinned man spoke from the door. A black robe with a single eye peering through. The teen obediently walked towards the man with a glare full of hatred. Her eyes began to glow a faint blue hue before the headset squeezed, letting the blue fall. The man looked to Agent Mary.

“This better not backfire agent. We’ve been trying for almost 3 years. Don’t fuck it up.” The man said as he turned to walk out the door. 025 took one last look back at Mary before following the man out of the room. Mary takes a moment to breathe, before she too left the room. The three of them walked a winding path, slowly turning from white to a metallic grey. The dark man opens a large door.

“Mutaint #025, this is your stop.” He says as he steps out of the way for her. The teen walks through the door, giving the man one more stink eye as she enters. The room was large, with various everyday items littered throughout. Garbage cans, many different water bottles, a piece of modern art, and slates of marble. The walls are all metallic, with a large sheet of bulletproof mirror glass filling a wall. 

“Alright 025, good morning. Today you’ll need to lift up these objects in order from lightest to heaviest. Start whenever you’re ready.” A voice rang out in the chamber as the headset stopped compressing and fell clattering to the ground. The teen winced at the sound and looked around the room again. Seeing the water bottles, she tried to get them to go up. Some of them got a good inch off of the ground, but they came right back down. The girl twitched as a shot of electricity got shot into her neck, which sent bottles banging against the ceiling. Bright blue light flares out of her eyes, and all she can see is white. A moment passes before they all come back down. She staggers for a bit, regaining her senses. Blinking once, twice, thrice. Until she can see. Water has spilt all over the floor, drenching the piece of modern art and some of the slates of marble. 

“Good work 025, you’ve already improved without the headset. But this time, try doing it without my help.” The voice said, but a smaller voice said, “Well no shit, Sherlock.” 

The girl nodded and moved her attention to the garbage cans. Some of them were full and some were empty. She tried to get them all to go up. Two that were filled made it only two feet off of the ground, while the empty ones made it half-way up to the ceiling. 

“Good, good. Now while they’re up in the air, could you please move them in a pattern for me? Any kind will do. Start on your mark.” The softer voice was now loud. 025 attempted to do what they said and moved them to be filled, not filled, filled, not filled. To the young teen, this was exhausting. Sweat was now running down her face and neck, getting very close to the wires. A pleased hum cracked through the mic.

“You are doing great today on movement and multitasking. Could you now focus on weight, with either the statue or the marble? Start whenever you’re ready.” The original voice cut through once more, trying to sound pleasant. 025 took a deep breath and wiped off some of the sweat with her forearm. This was the part that she really hated, lifting up weights. Because she could never do as much as they wanted, so they would shock her constantly until she passed out saying that she needed to try harder next time. But she continued on, focusing on the slates of marble. A smaller piece began to shift, oh so slowly to become vertical. The dark man’s voice cracked through the mic.

“Mutant #025, I know you can do better than that!” If that was meant to be motivational or a threat, she wasn’t sure. But soon enough, the slate rose about 2 feet in the air.

“Good, good. Now, keep it up for as long as you can.” The speaker spoke almost making her lose her concentration but she persisted. So she focused. Focused on the design of it all. The changing color from black, to grey, to white, but nothing in between. How it was jagged, never smooth, how the lines were all straight and sharp. And the longer she looked at it’s polished design, and how clean and pretty it looked, all that she could see was SHIELD, and how much she hated it. Suddenly a small blue wave, no bigger than a 6 foot radius, exploded from her. Sending the modern art scraping away and the garbage cans knocked over. The marble slate that was in the air, dropped 3 foot away and shattered upon hitting the floor. Different sizes, different shapes, spewed themselves everywhere. The slate was no longer a whole piece anymore. It had lost some of its beauty, with some of the edges now round, smooth, and dirty. 025 smiled to herself while she felt the world going sideways. She soon hit the floor, exhausted. Behind the glass, agents were scrambling to take notes.

“Was that a new ability?!”

“Did you see that?”

“I think...I think we did it.” They all talked one over the other as an agent left the room to join up with Agent Mary to get 025 back into her holding room.When they had gotten back, the dark skinned man turned to Mary.

“That was a risky move, taking off her headset. She could have hurt you.” He said to her. Mary looked him dead in the eyes.

“I understand Director Fury. But that was the only way that we could truly see what she was capable of in a normal circumstance. And it seems that we’ve gotten some good information about her limits without much stress sir.” Mary answered back. Fury showed no emotion.

“We did. However, Mutant #025 is dangerous in stressful situations and does need to be tested in such situations. But I’m sure this information will be useful later on. You are dismissed.” Fury said as he turned to go towards one of the labs. As soon he was out of sight, Mary dropped her shoulders and turned to the male agent with her.

“Richard. I don’t know how much longer I can keep doing this to her. She’s only 16, and has been here for 3 years!” She looked up to Richard in defeat. He cradled her face with his hands and pressed their foreheads together. A rare sign of affection while on duty.

“Mary, sweetheart. I know how you feel and I wish to be able to do the same. But, we can’t.” Richard spoke softly to her.

“I-I just want to.”

“Agents, we have a new mutant coming in at 2230 hours. Please stand by.” The overhead speakers call out as different agents begin climbing out of their joint offices. Getting ready for whatever kind of mutant that they’ll need to restrain. Richard sighs.

“I guess this train will never stop going.” He says as he lets go of Mary’s face. Her expression hardens once again into agent mode.

“Let’s just hope that it isn’t another kid.” 

“Indeed.” He replies, making his way to the helicarrier. Both of them stop in their tracks of what they see. Another kid. This one looked like they were about one to two years younger than 025, but they were nearly skin and bones. Where there should have been muscle, small bits of metal fill. They looked exhausted, their skin as white as the halls that they know that they’ll have to exist in, their long hair, reaching about their mid-back, was knotted and filled with dust.

“Where was this one found?” A random agent asked the deliverers. They shrugged their shoulders and pointed to the road.

“Yeah, well. Uh we were stopped. By a family on the road. They uh...they said that when a gang decided to try and rob em, uh. Their son just jumped in and beat those guys up good.” One of them said. Fury looked at them uninterested.

“So why was he brought here?” He asked them. The two of them just looked at each other and looked at him.

“Well sir, the um, family said that their son started turning into metal, and uh, sent one of the thugs into a well and broke it.” The deliverer scratched his cheek while Fury raised an eyebrow.

“The wall or the thug?”

“Probably both sir.” The man answered honestly. Fury nodded his head in understanding and turned to look at the young kid, sound asleep. 

“Interesting. He will be Mutant #048. Thank you for taking him here. You are dismissed.”


	2. Code Green

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A month after #048 arrived SHIELD has arrested someone not of this world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was brought to you by, our insomnia!

#  **Mutant #048**

_ Name:  Ash Kipping _

_ Sex:  ??? _

_Date Of Birth: 01/17/1998_

_ Nationality:  Asian _

_ Powers: _

  * _Transformation into different metals_
  * _Large appetite_



_ History:  _

_ Ash Kipping was born on the 17TH of January in 1998 to Emma Kipping and  Akira Kipping and was raised in XXXXXXX until 2012. After going out for dinner the Kipping family of 5 had encountered a local gang that then proceeded to attack demanding all of their valuables. _

_ Even though Ash was completely terrified he confronted the gang acting only on instinct, producing the necessary requirements to awaken their abilities. Ash's body turned into iron, protecting them from the attackers and was able to throw one into a wall, demolishing it and killing the attacker. After the fight Ash fell unconscious.. _

_ At 10:30pm the same day the family stopped some agents from the rood and deposited Ash and left. Ash Kipping has been registered as mutant #048 and will be tested within 5 hours.  _

_ 04/02/2012: _

_ The first Round of test have been completed showing that #048 does in fact have the X-gene. During the test, #048 had woke up in confusion and started to call for their family, At one point #048 attempted to escape by turning into nickal, but it was short lived as they passed out an hour later. _

_ 04/10/2012: _

_ #048 is distrusting yet still somewhat naive. They don’t believe that being here is for everyone's safety and that we are protecting them, but knows we are for the safety of America. For the most part They have been cooperative. _

_ Testing so far shows that #048 can only turn into aluminum not iron. This is disappointing for SHIELD as we had hoped to have a strong agent in the future. One of the current theories is that #048 has the ability to change into different metals. We are scheduled to do further teasing on 04/19/2012. _

_ 04/19/2012: _

_ We have a confirmed explanation for the believed false information. The theory that #048 can turn into different metales at will. Testing will continue every day for the rest of the month. _

_ 04/30/2012: _

_ After 11 days of testing we have concluded that the types of metals they can change into is determined by the amount of food consumed. Further testing will be required to see if there is a limit to how many metals #048 can change into and what types are achievable. _

_ Also the staff has noted that #048 is extremely sociable and is incredibly interested in the other mutants. They also seem to be able to look at the positive in everything and everyone, this so far has made it easy in keeping them complaisant. Our only concern is #048 follower mentality, especially if they ever meet a more rebellious mutant. _

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**_05/04/2012_ **

##  BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ

A buzzer rang throughout the halls. Both 025 and Ash awake to the sound of Nick Fury’s (or Pirate Bitch according to 025) voice coming through the speakers.

“All available agents, the Asgardian criminal Loki has been detained and the Avengers require assistance in getting him to his cell. All testings have been cancelled for today to deal with him. Fury out.” The speaker clicked off as the sound of several footsteps began making their way to the landing pad. But 4 agents stopped in front of 025’s door and spoke in harsh whispers.

“Do you really think that the Avengers need our help, or the Fury’s just giving us something to do?” One agent asked the other 3.

“I vote for the latter. Watching him isn’t going to be much fun.” A bored voice chimed in, the others hum and nod their heads in agreement.

“...But you know what would be fun? Having out two mutants fight one another.” The other agent said with a smirk.

“What?!” The other 3 exclaimed. They all go quiet, hoping that no one hears them.

“Why not? Fury thinks that they’re  _ so dangerous,  _ but we’ve never tested them in battle before.” One reasoned, they all nod.

“Hm, you do have a point, but what if they get out of hand?” One of them pointed out while another scoffed.

“Psh, it won’t be a problem. We have the headset and other things to control them. It’ll be fine. So, who wants to see some sparing?” They ask the others.

“Sure, why the hell not.” One said as they turned to knock on 025’s door.

“I’m ready for the day!” She shouted and when they opened the door, she was already ready.

“You heard us?” One of them asked in disbelief.

“I’m not deaf. Who do I beat up?” 025 asked the agents, looking them in the eye. 

“See? That’s the ticket. Just come with us and don’t make a fuss.” One encouraged, leading 025 into the hall to cuff their wrists and ankles.

“About what?” She growled.

“N-Nevermind. Hey, Charles and Darel, can you grab #048?” The agent stuttered, looking at them.

“Guess so.” They answered back.

“Alrighty then. Test room #03 in about 15 minutes?”

“Sounds good to me.” The two of them left to pick up Ash, who was closer to the test rooms because it would be easier on the floor to travel with him if he decided to turn into metal. When they got to his door they banged on it. 

“#048! Get up, we’re taking a field day.” Charles shouted through the door. Ash’s voice soon came through the door.

“Really? Where are we going?” They asked as the 2 agents opened up the door, clasping their wrists and ankles like they did with 025.

“You’ll be sparing with another mutant. Don’t worry, we’ll be nearby to make things interesting.” Darel said, leading Ash to the testing room of choice.

“Oh I get to socialize? Sweet!” Ash said cheerfully, half skipping before being stopped.

“Just come with us and don’t talk.” The agents said, eyeing the clasps.

“You got it!” They smiled as they were led into the large room. In that room, it was bare, with two circles of different sizes drawn one inside of the other. Ash was led to the outer edge of the first circle and had their clasps taken off. Across the way, 025 stood there, also getting their cuffs taken off. She was also getting her headset off by the other agent. All that Ash could do was laugh.

“Wow, that headset looks ridiculous!” They said as 025’s eyes locked onto their long silver hair.

“Interesting hair.” She said after some silence. “From your powers or natural?” 

“Well, our powers are mostly natural, yes? At least, that’s what I’ve been able to gather from the past month.” Ash responded. 025 looked slightly confused.

“Past month?”

“Yeah, how long have you been here for?”

“According to Pirate Bitch about 3 years.” 

Ash sputtered. “P-Pirate Bitch?! Wow that’s rich!” 025 cocked an eyebrow and shook her head.

“Not really. Shall we fight?” She said as she got into a fighting stance while Ash just shrugged.

“Eh, sure. That’s what we got dragged out for isn’t it?”

“Indeed.” She said as she leaped forwards Ash into battle. They transform into Gallium as they too, charged into battle. Meanwhile, most other agents are geared and awaiting the new prisoner. The plane landed as they approached. Out came first was Tony Stark aka Iron Man, telling everyone to say back, that he’s dangerous and can manipulate the mind.

“Don’t worry, we’ve already got a mutant that does that and she hasn’t done too dangerous yet.” An agent blurts out. Iron Man does a double take as a walking Loreal commercial comes out, dragging the man described as Loki, whose head is up and looking at the agent intrigued.

“Oh really now? Will I get to meet her?” He asked the agent. Captain America and Black Widow step out of the plane, looking confused. 

“Meet who? You won’t be meeting anyone except a cell.” Cap said as he yanked Loki away from Loreal dude and tossed him to the agents. 4 of them grabbed him and shackled his wrists with practice. He looked at the agents, then looked at his wrists.

“I assume you have done this many times before, yes?” 

“Shut up!” One of them said as they began escorting Loki to his cell. As they traveled down the metal halls, the sound of combat reached his ear. Grunts from a female and yelps from another person. Scraping sounds of metal upon metal and...ah. There they are. He was only able to see them for a split second, but he saw them. A metal body, slamming into a wall with a girl sidestepping him. She then concentrates, sending a piece of the splintered wall into the body telepathically. Some of the wall gets absorbed, and other parts ting off. But the body goes further into the wall, turning into pale flesh. So this was the mental user that they were speaking about? Interesting. Very interesting. Before she could get out of his sights, he opened up a mind link. She had a lot of silent rage in her. Even more interesting.

‘Why hello. You are quite an interesting sort, aren’t you?’ Loki’s voice rang in the young girl’s head. She held her head and staggered back.

“‘What the fuck?!’” 025 said both in her head and out loud. “Who said that?!”

‘If it was one of those fucking agents I swear to the none existant god, I am going to murder them.’ Her internal voice growled. Meanwhile Ash just looked confused.

“Who said what?” They asked. 025 then looked confused.

“Didn’t you hear?” She asked back. They just shook their head no.

‘What the fuck, am I hearing things?’ She thought as she looked around wildly.

‘Why yes you are.’ The voice said again. ‘Even if they’re not verbally spoken.’

‘Okay _ …  _ what the fuck is that supposed to mean?’ 025 mentally snaps at him. 

‘You are the mental user yes? Do you really not know how to do this yourself?’

‘I make things float and I don’t get taught  _ anything.  _ What do you fucking think?’

‘I think it may be time for you to learn something. If you’ll let me teach you.’

‘Sure, why the hell not at this point.’

‘Wonderful. How about something simple for now? First lesson is how to Mind Meld, what we are doing now. Do you have a willing participant?’

“Are you just going to silently stare at me or what’s going on?”

‘I think I might.’

“You’re #048 yes?”

“I mean my name is Ash, but yeah.”

‘Good. Now, open up your mind, not too much though.’

‘Alright then. What’s next?’

‘Ask your willing participant to keep an open mind.’

“Keep an open mind.”

“I’m sorry what? I mean, sure? Mind that is always open is now even more open!”

‘Both minds are open, now what?’

‘Imagine an invisible line, going from your forehead to theirs. There will be a bit of a hum at first, but it goes away after a bit. And if you’ve done everything that I’ve said, then you shall be able to talk to one another without ever making a sound.’

“How long am I going to have to wait?”

‘Um...Can you hear me?’

“‘Woah…’” 

‘That’s really really cool. I mean, is this what you were doing before? Because now it makes a lot more sense! It was creepy, don’t get me wrong, but man this is cool!’

‘Mission accomplished.’

‘Good. Now, if you want to learn more abilities, then come find me in the helicarrier. Don’t keep me waiting~’

“Come on.” An agent impatiently pulls him along into another room. There was a large, circular glass holding container with stairs leading up to it. Once at the top of the stairs, the agents unclasped his wrists and shoved him into the container, locking the door behind him.

“Is this how you treat all of your guests? I’m not surprised that people don’t like you.” He turned to the agents, smiling.

“You better not try anything. This cage is set to drop into the ocean at a moment's notice.” An agent said before turning around, leaving Loki to himself. Do they really not have better security? While the agents were coming back, Nick Fury’s voice cracked through the speaker.

“All agents report to the landing pad at once. This is an order.” And his voice disappeared once more. The 4 agents who were in the test room looked at each other before heading out the door.

“Do you think it’s a good idea to leave the mutants in there by themselves?”

“The door is locked by the outside, they can’t get out. Besides, it shouldn't take too long.”

“Since when are Fury’s meetings ever short?” As all 4 noob agents all left the test room, 025 and Ash looked at the door, then looked at each other.

“Should we try and get out?”

“It would be our best chance...”

“Why is this light on?”

“Shit…” 025 says as she lifts some of the loose metal from the floor, covers herself, and presses as hard as she can into the wall. While Ash makes himself become that metal and also presses against the wall. The agent opens the door and walks inside. They look around, seeing that there was somebody there turns around, shuts off the light, and shuts the door. The 2 of them stayed still for about a minute, making sure that no one was coming in again. Once they were sure, Ash became flesh once more and 025 dropped the metal. They both cringed as it hit the floor, making a loud, echoing noise. 

‘We need to get out now!’ 025 mentally yelled as she made her way through the darkened room.

‘Oh, we’re doing the mental talk thing now? Okay.’ Ash replied back, also making their way through the darkness. Soon they both reached the door, and they reached to open it.

‘Wait, didn’t they say that it locks from the outside?’ Ash asked, trying the handle. And sure enough it was locked.

‘Shit…’ 025 turned in the darkness, frustrated.

‘Can’t you lift stuff up? Like, you were doing it before, can’t you use it to mentally pick the lock?’

‘The locks are magnetic. I’d need a key card in order to open it.’ Ash’s face fell before lighting up.

‘Oh! Can’t we use the door that’s on the other side of their viewing glass? We could pop it off and go on through! I don’t think they’d lock that door.’

‘I’m pretty sure that they lock every door in this place, but it’s worth a try.’ She says as they both feel their way to the glass. There was a small dent in the metal on one of the corners, making it easier to peel the glass off enough for them to squeeze through. Once there, they could see that the other 4 agents in a rush, didn’t shut the door.

“See? What’d I tell ya?” Ash whispered as they made their way through the door and into the hallway. It seemed so much bigger now that they weren’t going from point A to point B. The two of them traveled down winding hallways until they came across an open room with a glass container of sorts. In another part of the helicarrier, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, a scientist, are looking over the scepter that Loki had in his possession. Well, Bruce was. Tony however was looking through many different SHIELD files, trying to find anything he could on what SHIELD wanted to do with the Tesseract that was on the helicarrier. After 20 minutes of searching, finding, decoding, and recoding files, he finally found that they wanted to make weapons. 

“SHIELD, you son of a bitch.”

“What?”

“They want to use the Tesseract in order to make weapons.”

“What makes them think that they could do that?”

“Well, let’s find out.” Tony said as he started going through the other files that SHIELD had and came across 2. Each one was labeled as a Mutant along with a number. The most recent one was Mutant #048, someone who could turn their body into metal. They were only 14 but SHIELD had been doing tests on them for a month. As he was reading the file, he kept on murmuring,

“This isn’t right, this isn’t right…” He almost didn’t want to read the other file, but through sheer spite he pushed through. Mutant #025 was a girl that had physic like abilities and had been there for close to 3 years. He tensed. Suddenly what that agent said as soon as Loki was brought into custody made sense. But that still didn’t make it right.

“Well? Did you find anything Tony? Tony?” Bruce looked from his desk to see Tony with a clenched jaw, staring at the holo screen. It was at this point that Nick Fury decided to walk in.

“What have you found so far?” He asked the two of them. Bruce looked at Tony while Tony glared at Fury.

“Oh, just that you were planning on using the Tesseract to make weapons and that you were testing on children.” Tony stated, disgusted. Fury just looked at him.

“It’s none of your damn business.” He replied coldly.

“Oh really? You testing on children, one for a month and the other for almost 3 years, is none of my damn business?” Tony spat back. Bruce looked between the two of them, anger building on his face.

“One of them destroyed a barn with a tractor that was racing towards the town before picking it up with her mind and dumping it onto a field. The mother had no problem with us taking the child. We’ve been testing 025 yes, so that she could better control her powers. The other one had been dropped off by their family after they found out about their child’s powers in turning into metal. Because on their first time using that power, they killed a man by throwing him against a wall which broke on impact. We did what we had to to keep both them and the public at large safe.” Fury explained, his face remaining a resting bitch face. 

“But that was only one instant. For all we know, they could normally only lift up a pebble.” Tony said, calmly typing away at the holographic computer.

“Yes, but that could happen again, And again unless they’re contained. They’re dangerous.” Fury answered back. Tony stopped typing and looked at him with a face that was a mix of ‘wtf’ and ‘you’re the biggest dumbass I’ve ever met’. Leave it up to Tony to invent a new face. Meanwhile Dr. Banner rose from his seat at great speed. 

“They’re kids! One was taken about a month ago. Okay! But you kept the other one here for years Fury. YEARS! And what did you do to her? You did tests on her when she was only 13, and called her a number!” Bruce cried out. Green splotches started to appear on his neck and up the sides of his face.

“Answer me this Doctor. If there was a threat, that could kill any innocent people, would you want to eliminate it?” Fury calmly spoke as he raised an eyebrow at Tony.

“Of course I would want to take care of the problem, Fury. Lives are important. But not everything is so black and white.” Bruce twitched his eyes, anger prominently covering his face.

“Oh is it now? You wouldn’t understand, you’re too young.” He blandly stated. 

“Personally, I don’t think I’ll ever want to.” Tony chimed in. Before Nick had entered the lab, Ash and 025 started walking closer to the glass container.

“Hm, what do you…”

“Oof…” They both froze, Ash caught a glimpse of a black robe and acted on instinct. Grabbing 025 and climbing to underneath the stairs. They changed their body to a dark metal and camouflage into the steps.

“Is that the best that you’ve got Fury?” Loki’s voice slightly muffled from the cage. They could hear Fury’s agitated growl before he stormed off, nearly causing Ash to lose their grip. They waited about a minute, in case he came back.

“Come out you two, I know you’re there.” Loki said and they crawled out of their hiding place and looked at him. His emerald green robes were clean and hair perfectly placed. He smiled at them.

“I take it that you’re the mutants that I’ve heard about. It’s an honor to make your acquaintance.”

“You’re the guy that taught me how to mind link.”

“It’s called Mind Meld.”

“Whatever.”

“I take it that you want to learn more about your powers, seeing that SHIELD doesn’t do a very good job now does it?”

“No.”

“We’re escaping, do you wanna come with?”

“Not right now. I’m waiting for a que.”

“A que? What que?” Suddenly a loud roar rocked the room as a speaker blasted, 

“Code Green. All agents prepare to detain. I repeat, Code Green.” 

“...That que.”


	3. HULK SMASH

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hulk smash. that self explanatory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shade: FUCK HTML FORMATS!!!!!!!!!
> 
> Ro: Technology...why you hate us so? Also, why this took forever, I shall never know.

# “HULK SMASH PIRATE!”

The newly transformed Hulk roared as he charged towards Nick Fury. Fury dodged while he pulled out his hand gun and fired two shots at the Hulk. Meanwhile Tony backed up, getting out of the way as the Hulk continued to swat and bat away at Fury barely dodged. He aimed his M&P9 at the Hulks and fired three bullets, only for them to bounce off. Fury then ran to the wall and pressed a button. A beep goes off.

“Code Green! All agents prepare to detain! I repeat, Code Green!” Fury yelled into the speaker. Hulk roared as he blindly charged towards Fury. He dodged and the Hulk went straight into a wall, breaking it. Black Widow, who was on her way to interrogate Loki, turned around just in time to see Hulk nearly run her over. She jumped out of the way and nearly fell over the bars before catching herself. Tony ran out of the lab towards her with Thor and Cap soon joining. 

“What’s going on?” Cap asks no one in particular. 

“Fury just awoke the Hulk.” Tony states bluntly. Thor looks at him confused.

“How did he do that? Dr. Banner doesn’t seem like someone who rages often.” He reasoned. They nod in agreement. 

“So how did he do it?” Black Widow looked at Tony.

“Old-Pirate’s been doing some shady work with the tesseract and kids that he calls mutants.” Tony explained, most of them looked confused.

“Mutants? What’s that?” Cap asked the others. Before anyone could respond, a large explosion rang out, pushing everyone a bit forward. Hulk gets himself unstuck from the wall, destroying it all the way looking towards the rest.

“ Dibs.” Says Thor enthusiastically, craving a good fight.

“All yours thunder thighs.” Tony waves to Hulk, who’s already charging. Meanwhile with Fury running back to Agent Hill.

“Agent Hill, status report.” 

“An external explosion has disrupted engine 3. Repairs are only accessible outside the Helicarrier.” 

“Stark…”

“I’m on it.” Tony says already in suit.

“Hostiles are boarding.” Hill says, typing away at a holographic computer.

“Coulson, get on lock down. Romanoff, take care of the intruders that are already boarded.” Fury commanded.

“Copy.” 

_______A_______

“The Hulk was a bit early.” Loki said, pleasantly surprised. Ash looked at him horrified.

“YOU planned him to attack?!” Screamed Ash. 

“Well not right now. Maybe in...three minutes?” Loki admitted.

“Still, you planned this. And now agents are running all over the place. How the fuck are we going to escape now!?” They both said, switching every other sentence. Ash and 025 looked at each other in surprise. Several SHIELD agents storm into the room, pointing their guns at Ash and 025.

“How about with them?” Loki points to the agents. 025 takes one look at them then turns to face Loki angrily.

“Oh hell no!” Loki waves his hand dismissively. All the agents lower their weapons and move on to unlocking his cell. 

“I have them under control, they're with me. Wouldn’t you like to learn how to do that?” 025 lowers her head in thought while Ash awws at her.

“There’s more to learn? You can become even cooler?”

“There’s always more to learn. So, do we have a deal?” 025 raises her head.

“If I join your side, will I be able to kill that Pirate Bitch?” Loki just smiled at her.

“Of course you can. Make it as painful and slow as you want.” His face morphed into a smirk. 

“Well why didn’t you start with that?” A beep goes off and the door opened.

“Well I thought that would be more interesting. Like, creating illusions.” Loki snaps his fingers and two more of him appear. 

“That’s so cool!” Ash fanboys, when one of the Loki’s get back into the cage.

“Now, I’m going to need to trick my brother into getting into that cage that I was in. It should be easy, he’s very predictable. But I’m going to need you two to be quiet for a bit so he doesn’t hear you. So that it’s even more of a surprise. Then when I’m done, we can all leave. Sound fair?” 

“Can I have food soon?” Ash asks, swaying a bit. Loki lightly sighs.

“The place that we’re going to has enough food to feed a village. Will that suffice?” Ash nods.

“That sounds delicious.”

“Good. Quiet now.” He says as the other two Loki’s hide. One by the front door, the other one right outside the cage. Both Ash and 025 go back to hiding underneath the stairs once more and wait. Soon, a battle cry from Thor rang out. And just as soon as that cry started, it ended when he crashed inside the cell. Thor glared back at the other illusion for a few minutes. 

“You always fall for that one. How are you so gullible?” The illusion Loki said amused. The agent that was with Loki got knocked out by Agent Coulson. 025 glared at him from her hiding spot as he stepped forward. 

“This weapon was in testing. Even I don’t know what it does. Want to try it out?” Coulson said before being stabbed in the back all the way through by the real Loki with the scepter.

“No!” Cried Thor as Coulson slumped to the ground. 

Loki walks towards the control panel. He smiles a bit at Thor as he flips a switch, air sucking through the floor. #025 grabs a hold of one of the steps, as Loki presses a button, sending Thor down and out of the helicarrier. Glancing up at the platform, 025 saw that even though triumph was clear on his face, his eyes seemed regretful about sending him down.

“Now that he’s said and done, we may take our leave.” Loki said to them as the hole shut itself. The two of them nod and follow him out.

  
  
______A_______

As the three of them boarded the jet and took off, the carrier got smaller and smaller. 025 took a moment to breathe before turning to face the now shrinking helicarrier.

“Ha ha! See you never you motherfuckers! Watch your back you pirate bitch!” 025 said to them as they flipped off the carrier as it became just a speck in the sky. Loki cleared his throat, getting their attention.

“So now that we’ve gotten a fair distance away from them, I believe introductions are in order yes? I am the rogue prince of Asgard, Loki. Pronouns he/him or she/her depending on my mood. And you two would be?” The tall man with the blinking scepter asked them. Ash, who looked a little bit dazed, blinked their eyes in attention. 

“Oh, um. I’m Ash. Pronouns they/them. Nice to meet you.” They reach out their hand, a little confused, to Loki who just looks at it.

“Pleasure is all mine Ash.” Loki nods his head and turns to face 025. “And you would be?” 

“I’m test subject #025. But if you have a better name, then I’m more than willing to hear you out.” She said, making eye contact. Ash looks at her, trying to see if she was lying but saw that she wasn’t.

Loki cocked an eyebrow. “Did they not call you anything else?” 025 just shook her head.

“No sir.”

Loki breathed out a light sigh. “Come down deary, it's Loki. But since you don’t have a name, I’ll give you one. I think I’ll call you... Scarred Mind.” A wicked smirk stretched across his face. She stared at the ground thinking.

“Scarred Mind? Scarred Mi- that’s not even a- whatever, I’m not the biggest fan, but it can work for now.” The newly named Scarred Mind mumbled to herself. Ash also was thinking.

“Hm. Too long. I think I’ll just call you Scar. That good?” Ash turned to Scarred Mind, a smile painted on their features.

“Okay.” Scar nodded her head. She had gotten a name within 15 minutes of getting away from SHIELD and was promised that she could kill the angry pirate! Scar could already see that this was the beginning of a wonderful relationship. 


	4. Invasion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ro: the emotional support kitty's were always there.
> 
> Shade: we really wanted to be done with this part so we can get to the good stuff.

Back on the helicarrier, Tony and Cap were able to get the vehicle up in the air enough to park it. All the while Fury is flipping out.

“Do you mean to tell me, that during that attack, not only had Loki escaped, but Mutants #025,  _ AND  _ #048?!”

“We’re checking the cameras sir and their cells are emptied. But I don’t see how they could have-” The agent stoped as the cameras start showing the dumb agents letting them out so that they could spar.

“What on earth…” Cap mumbles in confusion.

“...Have those agents be brought to me, now!” yelled Nick in fury.

“I thought you said that they were ‘ _ super dangerous’  _ and ‘ _ had to be contained.’ _ And yet, they just waltzed out the door with reindeer games? Not attacking  **_anyone_ ** .” Tony said.

“How dangerous are they? I may not have been around for the last 70 years, but I can tell just by looking at them that they’re minors.” ask Cap, still very confused.

“048 can turn into different metals and is impervious to bullets. 025 nearly killed 15 people with a tractor as she levitated it with her mind.” Answered Fury.

“Maybe so, Eyepatch.” said Tony, starting to become irritated. ”However, 025, according to your own file, was 12-13 and hadn’t been able to reproduce the results. It could have been a spike in power, or that it wasn’t her doing. There’s too many variables.” 

“You think I don’t know that.”

“Apparently not.” Agent Richard chipped in as he walked forward with the four agents who took Scar and Ash out of their cells in the first place.

“They watched Agent Coulson get murdered. And they didn’t do a damn thing, hell, they seemed real content with it.” said Fury, ignoring when the cameras showed Ash visually shaking up at Coulsons death.

“Yes, but in a place like this, everyone who walks freely without being detained is assumed to be the enemy. Survival of the fittest, it’s what trauma does.” reasons Cap.

“Enough. If you two will leave me be, I need to  _ talk _ to some of my agents.” Fury said, dismissing them to yell to the agents.

“How long have you known?” question Cap.

“Known what?” Tony asked.

“About the kids. The testing, all of it.” Cap clarified.

“Just before the Hulk roared out.” he admitted.

“Did the doctor know? Banner?”

“Why do you think he hulked out?” said Tony with no humor.

“...Good point. I’ll go see if Black Widow has had any luck on getting Hawkeye back.”

“You go do that, I’m going to find Loki.”

“Let me know when you do.”

“Will do Capsicle.” Tony said as Cap left. “Now, Loki’s a full blown diva. He wants parades, he wants flowers, he wants a monument built to the skies with his name pla... Son of a bitch.” he realises Loki's plan and then rushes for the iron man suit.

___________________________________________________________________________________

“So this is Stark Tower? And you said that the owner of this tower is one of the so called heros?” Questions Scar as Ash all but runs towards the kitchen to eat something.

“Indeed.” says Loki, who stops to think for a moment.”Now, I believe some training would do you some good if you were to go up against these heroes. Don’t you agree, Scarred Mind?”

“Sure, whatever.” She said getting into a fighting stance. Meanwhile Ash stress eats everything they can. 

“This is the most food I have eaten in my entire life!” Ash says half an hour later after eating that last bite of a large brownie.

“You pick things up fast, Scarred Mind. It’s a shame that you didn’t start with me because they didn’t teach you much at SHIELD.” he said, saddened at the waste of what SHIELD had done.

“All that they do is control Uncreative.” Scar growled “Capture, Contain, Control.” 

“A pity that is. And did you just call me Uncreative?” asked Loki.

“You literally gave me a descriptor and not an actual name, which is only a step up from a number. I think that it’s fair.” Scar said bluntly.

“Fair indeed, Scarred Mind.”

Then an explosion happens on the top of the tower. Ash pulls Scar inside the tower to hide behind a wall as Loki goes to speak with Iron Man.

“So you’re one of the heroes, yes?” Loki asks, already knowing the answer.

“Would you like a drink?” Tony offers.

“If that’s your way of distracting me then-”

“No, I’m threatening you.” Tony corrects him.

“Really? And what makes you think that I’m going to believe you?” Loki asks, amused. “An army is coming, and you think that you can stop it?”

“Not just me. A team, built under the questionable influence of SHIELD.”

Loki smirks, “Well, questionable is a fair statement. Considering the young mortals that were placed under their watch. And they’re supposedly the people who will save the day?”

“Oh no, not them. My team, built from the influence of the people. The Avengers, we’re called, because if we can’t protect the Earth, you can be damn well sure we’ll avenge it.” Tony states before taking a drink.

Loki scofs, “Even then, you cannot win. I have an army-”

“We have a Hulk.”

“Well, how will they defeat the army, when they’re busy with you.” Loki smirks. He taps the scepter to Tony's chest, excited to have such a powerful minion.

“Don’t feel it.”

“What? That usually works.” said a confused Loki.

“How is he not affected?” ask Ash.

“Shh!” Scar quieting Ash.

“Jarvis, deploy.Deploy.” Tony whispered as Loki strangled him.

“What on earth?!” Sreemed Ash.

The portal opens, screams are heard from the streets below them as the army starts the invasion.

“Hey, hey! We gotta move!”

“Where?! The things coming from the portal are right on the roof, and they’re filling up the streets real fast.” Just then, a large man shaped like a dorito, according to Ash, comes crashing through, almost landing on Loki.

“Yeah, yeah I think the roof will be good.” Once they get onto the roof they see the scientist and some kind of device that is keeping the portal open.

“Dude. You really need to stop the portal.” Ash walked towards the scientist.

“I couldn’t even if I wanted to.” The scientist stated as he waved towards the Tesseract. “This masterpiece shouldn’t be taken away from the world. Besides, this portal opens and closes at Loki’s word.” He smirked. Scar shook her head. 

“Well then shut it down!” Scar demanded.

“No.” The scientist murmured, hands laying limp at his sides.

“Huh? Why not?! People are dying for no good reason because of that portal!” Ash cried out, waving his hands wildly. Loki just looked at the two of them as he made his way up and smirked. 

“What have those people done for you?” He asked the two of them. “Did they save you from the grasp of SHIELD? Did they teach you how to use your abilities or at least control them? And are you forgetting who did all of those things for you two? Who gave you a name when all that you were called was a number? A statistic.” He states as he tosses a glare at Scar. “I’m so very close to a world where people like you don’t have to hide or be tested on. Why do you stand in my way?” Loki asked. 

“We stand in your way because innocents are being slaughtered. Murdered for your own fun.” Ash stood his ground.

“Ash, It’s not just for fun, it’s...an act of power!” Loki grinned, full of evil.

“Also, you didn’t give me a name. You described what I’ve gone through and taunted me with it!” Scar chimed in, looking Loki dead in the eyes. He chuckled darkly.

“Well, the Avengers, as I think you’ve heard, are busy with the army. They’ll be tired out by the time they get to me.”

“Well then. I guess we’ll have to stop you ourselves!” Scar exclaimed as she sent a physic wave at Loki, causing him to be pushed to the edge of the roof and drop the scepter. Ash then turns into nickel and shoves him off of the roof.

“Let’s get him!” Ash shouted excitedly, trying to follow after Loki but was stopped by Scar.

“No wait! SHIELD is here.” Scar points to the Avengers and some of the agents. “We need to go into hiding.”

“Why? We’re both on the same side aren’t we?” They asked her. She gave them a questioning look.

“And what makes you think that they won’t just lock us up again?” Scar shot back with blue flaring in her grey eyes.

“I-I...I don’t know. But you’re right. Let’s go.” Ash resigns as he turns their body back into flesh. They looked out upon the city. Giant, fish-like creatures flying throughout the skys. Many buildings either damaged or turned to rubble.

“Hope the rich actually want to rebuild and not just move to another town.” Ash sighs, looking out at the once bright city. Scar too looks out and frowns. Many people must have lived here, and they’re being killed. She shook her head.

“Enough of that. We need to find a way off of this building.”

“Over there! We could ride it.”

“Do you know how to drive it?”

“...You could read their minds…” Scar shook her head and waited. Soon enough, a flyer who had a weird scooter flew by. The two of them quickly hopped on and kicked the driver out. After taking a bit to learn how to drive it, the two of them settled for a mostly long abandoned neighborhood of sorts. Either that or the aliens must have gone ham.

“We make camp here?” Scar nods as she moves to an apartment complex whose walls are crawling with ivy and other vegetation. “Fair enough.”

___________________________________________________________________________________

After a few days, the two of them come out of their makeshift home and walk to central park wearing some clothes that they stole from a damaged beyond repair thrift store. Many things are still in disarea, with trucks coming around to pick up whatever metal junk was still left over and to clean up some of the grass.

“Some have their priorities straight, others, not so much.” Scar said as she scanned the area. Loud beeps rang out from the many construction sites working late. A few of the lights in the park began to light up.

“How long do you think clean up is going to take?” Ash turns and asks Scar. She simply shrugs.

“It all depends on how much people want their lives to go back to normal. But at this rate...maybe a year?” She guesses as Ash nods.

“Nice...Hey, isn’t that Loki?” Their eyes move to make quick eye contact with the god himself, being escorted by the Avengers.

“It appears so. Along with the other two ‘heros’ that we saw at the tower. I wonder what they’re doing here.”

“Sending him away?”

“Maybe...” She trailed off, making a mind link with the man in question. 

‘Well well well. I wouldn’t think that I’d be able to see you again. Let alone in the same week.’ She stated. Loki’s eyes seemed to dart around the park, looking for the source before being elbowed by a man with sunglasses on and a goatee. He huffed.

‘Scarred Mind. Neither did I.’ His voice was more quiet, seemingly somewhat confused. The group kept on moving and was getting out of her range. Scar began casually getting closer.

‘Where are you going? Prison?’ She asked him. He huffed again.

‘Home...which is a prison.’

‘I wish it to be better than mine was.’

‘It shouldn’t be that hard. Though I’m sure many will be eager to see their fallen prince on display. To hopefully never meeting again.’ He sounded so small and defeated. He made eye contact with her before his attention was brought back to Dorito man.

‘To never meeting again, Uncreative.’ She said back. And just like that, blue energy engulfed both him and Dorito guy and they both disappeared. Ash came up to her and tapped her shoulder.

“So, how did it go?” They asked her as she turned to face them.

“How did what go?” She questioned as they both walked into a small crowd.

“The mental conversation. How’d it go?” They asked again.

“It went fine. He seemed...off. Like the Loki that we knew from a few days ago was not quite the same man that I spoke to. The one that we knew was blood thirsty and power hungry. Yet this just seemed like a man who pulls pranks and just wants attention.” Scar wasn’t exactly sure where she had gotten that information.

“So...what does that mean?”

“I-I don’t know. It’s none of my business. I guess this is where we part ways. You’ve only been in SHIELD for a month, so I’m sure that you’ve got family that you need to get back to.” She stopped, looking at Ash expectantly. Ash shrugged nervously.

“Well, they abandoned me because I can turn into metal. I’m not sure I wanna to go back.”

“Oh.” Was all that she could say.

“What about you? Do you have a family you need to get back to?” They asked her. Scar’s hands clenched.

“My father is dead and my mother just let them take me away.” She voice tight.

“Well, we can make due.”

“We?” Ash put their hands on their hips and leaned to one side.

“Did I stutter?” Scar could blink.

“No. Very well Ash, we shall make due.”

“Great! Let’s go and get some change from some sad saps.” They said as they began going deeper into the ever growing crowd.

“Indeed.” She said as she followed them.


	5. Night Terror

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ro: The espresso was brewed a bit strong...
> 
> Shade: Hi.... Fuck Google Fuck HTML Fuck RICH TEXT!!!!!!!  
> also berryblu thank you

Tractor moving

Stress

Panic

Wood splintering as barn falls

Tractor comes closer into town

Cousin cries

Stress

Tractor flies up

Drops into field destroying it

Wakes up in SHIELD

Panic attack

Agents attacking

Cuffs ankles and wrists

Panicking

Blue light coming from everywhere

Headset gets put on 

Head squishes and blue light fades

Nick Fury saying lock her up

The lighting

The headset squeezing her

A snap

Shocks 

Another 2 snaps

025

I own you

025

Be ready

025

Shocks to the core

**025**

2 snaps

5 bruising points

**0 ways out**

A violent scream ripped it’s way through her throat as she awoke from her terror. Ash awakened long ago by the screaches by Scar, right by her side as she came into consensus. 

“Scar? Scar...you okay?” Ash asks.

“Get away! Go on! Get!” Scar screams as she fights them off.

“Scar, Scar it’s just me. Ash.” They say, trying to calm her down.

“I don’t care, get away!” Scar roared with eyes glowing blue.

“I-I...okay.” They said quietly, grabbing one of the coats and walking out the door. What caused Scar to act like that, or having that bad of a nightmare, they didn’t know. It seemed to be close to midnight, so not many shops would be open. Except one. A 24hour coffee shop. Mr. Parkenson’s Cup. Interesting name, but it’ll do. The smells of freshly ground coffee and warm sweet syrup greets them as they walk through the door. A tall man, with longish ombré pink hair going from light to dark, waves to them from the counter.

“Hi welcome in! What can I get you this fine night?” He asks them as he moves to the cash register.

“Um…” 

“Take your time. Not many people are in this late.” He said with a kind smile. The menu glowed a low light. They smiled. The menu had a lot of dog and magic based puns. The Puppichino, the Black Magic, the works. The pastries looked absolutely divine. But, they weren’t sure what would be good for Scar.

“Um, do you know… you know what would be good for just walking up from a nightmare or something?” The man’s smile faltered a little pointing to the hot chocolates. 

“I would say these would be a good, safe choice. One thing that most people don’t need after walking up is caffeine.”

“Don’t many people do that anyways?” asked Ash.

“Yes, but at least they’ve been awake for at least an hour before getting coffee.”

“Oh. Well I’ll have two hot chocolates please.” They said as they started digging out their crumpled dollar bills and dirty coins.

“Alrighty, that’ll be $3.00.” He said as he went behind the machine. Ash pulled out the exact change and placed it on the counter and waited for him to be done.

“By the way,” the man said, “I love what you did to your hair. How long did it take to dye it?” 

“Oh no my hair is natural.” answered Ash.

“So is mine.” the man said enthusiastically.

“I would say that’s odd and strange, but with how everything’s gone in the past few weeks, I’d say that’s pretty normal. Looks nice though.” 

“Thank you. Here’s your hot chocolates and some muffins for the road.” He put the two hot cups down along with a paper bag which had a chocolate, blueberry, and lemon poppyseed muffins in it.

“Muffins? But I didn’t pay for them.” Ash said, trying to find more change.

“I know. But it seems like you may need it. Nothing beats baked goods in the middle of the night.”

“I...but… wouldn’t your boss be mad?” They asked nervously.

“Well I am my own boss. And I can’t get mad at myself for helping others who need it. Consider it a gift.” Mr.Parkenson said with a smile.

“Okay, thanks Mr.Parkenson.”

“You’re welcome. But please, call me Fluff.”

“Okay Fluff. Goodbye, and thanks again!” Ash said as they walked out towards home.

* * *

“Scar? Scar… you still here? Scar.” Ash called walking into the broken down apartment.

“Here.”Her voice quiet. They looked in the corner and there she was. It seemed that she hadn’t moved since Ash left. “Where did you go?”

“I went to go grab some hot chocolate. Here, have one. The nice man also gave me some nice muffins for free.” They handed one to her.

“Ash. What did I say about not going out and going to a place where cameras are.” Scar said, trying and failing to hide her concern.

“You just seemed like you needed space and maybe something to drink.” pointing at the cup in her hands.

Scar takes a drink,“This is good.” She says pleasantly surprised.

“So, you good now?”Ash questions.

“What'd Ya mean?” Scar attempts to deflect, not wanting to explain.

“Well, you shouted at me to get out after you woke up, and before then you sounded like you were trying to tell someone to stop. Who was it?” 

“Ash, I’m not with them anymore. It’s fine. I can manage.” Scar tried to get off the subject placing her drink down.

“Bull. You haven’t even told me who they even were, let alone what they did.” Ash pressed determined to help her.

“Because I don’t need to!” She yelled, getting angry, but stopped when Ash did puppy eyes at her. She huffed and sat on the couch. “Fine. You promise not to laugh or anything?”

“Why would I laugh?”

“I don’t know. They laughed when they did it.” Scar took a breath. “The people in my nightmare were, should I start from the beginning?”

“Do whatever feels comfortable.” Ash said letting scar be in control.

“Okay. So, when I was younger, I used to live with both of my parents in a small town before my father and I got into a car crash. It somehow awoke my powers. My mother knew about them, but…. she wasn’t very accepting of it, even if she said she was.” she admitted with sorrow. ”About a year later, my powers spasmed and made a tractor go by itself. It broke a barn and made it go straight towards the middle of town. There was a crowd there, including myself and a young family member. It was coming straight towards and...and…” She started to hyperventilate.

“Okay, okay. Shh, just…” Ash grabs her hot chocolate and muffin from the crap table. ”have some of the drink and some muffin?” they hand them to her and sit next to her. “You good now? Do you wanna stop?”

“I would, yes. But I hear that it’s better to get it into the open.”

“Where did you hear that? We’ve only been out for a week.”

“I can literally hear into peoples minds at random. I think I listened into a therapy session.” Scar said with a slight smile.”But anyways.The tractor was coming towards us and almost hit all of us, but I had just managed to get control of it to dump it outside of town. I passed out shortly after and Next thing I know… 

“I’m in a metal box.”  _ Blinding white walls. _

“Where I was chained.” _ bloody wrists. _

“A helmet was placed on my head.” ‘ _ Please not again.’ _

“It would squeeze and compress my head whenever my powers flared up.”  **_STOP IT!_ **

She takes a sip of coco, trying to calm down. Tears building up in her eyes. “I was put to my limit a lot. But doing my powers by myself with something stopping it, was hard. And when I wasn’t performing as well as Pirate Bitch wanted, I would get shocked.” She said, gripping her side and neck that were scared from experiments. “Filled with constant reminders about what happened. Even though I’m free, I still fear that they could take me. And do all of it again.” Tears start running down Scar’s face.

Ash gives a hug and Scar tenses.

“I’m sorry.” They muttered softly.

“Wh- Ash, it’s not your fault. You were in the same position as me.”

“That doesn’t make me feel any better and I was only there for a month! You were there for years!” they said, barely holding back their voice.

“A-Ash…” Her voice cracked as she awkwardly hugged them back. “I...I…”

“Shh, it’s okay. Let’s just go to sleep okay?” Ash shushes her and rocks her.

“Okay.” She replied, as both she and Ash passed out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ro: The espresso was brewed a bit strong...
> 
> Shade: Hi.... Fuck Google Fuck HTML Fuck RICH TEXT!!!!!!!  
> also berryblu thank you
> 
> Ro:We're taking a mental vacation after this for sure.


	6. The Trappers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shade: Ash has a 20 in charisma. Also enjoy my art.

The late morning sun cracked into the half boarded up windows. Scar slowly came into consciousness. The grey walls greet her as various honks could be heard. As the night's events flood back to her, she could only wonder why. Why had she told Ash what had happened to her while she was at SHIELD? She turned her attention to the mess of hot chocolate containers and a few strangling mice gnawing away at the now stale muffins. 

‘Gonna need to pick that up.’ Scar thought to herself as she went to get up. But stopped when she realized the Ash was laying up against her sound asleep. They looked so peaceful, like a child. The both of them probably look just like that. Children. A light squeak rang out of a mouse, as it tried to scurry away with most of the muffin but couldn’t get it. She raised the muffin up a bit and the mouse fell off. It squeaked and ran off. As she slowly chewed the stale muffin, she began to think about what they would need for the day. Food, most likely. These muffins weren’t going to last too long. Clothing would also be another thing to consider. It probably wouldn’t take too long for these clothes to wear out so they’d have to get new ones. Blankets might be another thing that they might need to sleep on. The concrete flooring isn’t the nicest thing to lay on. 

“Hm?” Ash stirs and looks up at Scar tiredly.“Oh, good morning Scar. Did you rest alright?”

“I...Yes I did.” She responds.

“That’s good!” They cheer.

“Thank you.”

“No problem. So, what’re we doing today?” Ash tilted their head.

“Um. I don’t know. Perhaps get some more food? Find a more stable lifestyle while also being homeless?” She says with a straight face.

“Okay. But we don’t really have any money left. I used a lot of it last night.” Scar turned to look outside. The sun’s going to hide behind a cloud.

“It’s fine. We just gotta get more money.”

“How? We don’t have jobs.” Ash asks innocently.

“There’s something called stealing.” She says it is the most obvious thing. They quickly stood alert. 

“What? But isn’t that wrong?” Scar faced Ash anger slowly showing its face, 

“SHIELD taking us away and locking us up was wrong but they still did it. If anything it’s fine if we steal money or food to get by.”

“That still doesn’t make it right!” They yelled back. Scar stops and tries to calm down.

“Look Ash. Would you rather be put back into the system so that SHIELD can find us again and lock us up, or stay hidden and steal so that we can survive on the streets.” She reasons.

“...Fine. I’ll steal. But when we can get actual jobs we’re going to get them.”

“You do realize that getting jobs isn’t always 100%. Besides, the government can still track us if we get jobs. We don’t need them following us now.”

“But…” They start to object.

“You can’t argue with that, so don’t try.” She said almost in a command like manner. Ash looks down in defeat,

“Fine. Deal.”

* * *

**“Shit, fuck!”**

“Why’d you do that?!” Ash screams at Scar as they try to dodge the locals walking.

“Because you told me to.” She responds jumping over a dumpster. Going around a corner they bark back,

“And you listened?!” Thinking that as the older of the to Scar should be smarter than this.

“I’ve been locked away for 3 years! Do you think I know any better?!” she screamed as she pushed a tall dark man with ugly basketball shorts.

“ Watch it kid!” he yelled.

“Sorry!” Ash apologized for her as they ran past.

‘This probably could have been avoided if Ash hadn’t suggested stealing from those shady people in black’ Scar thought, remembering how they got in this mess. They had both agreed to go to an area that they will blend in. Unfortunately they had decided to steal from a group of armed thugs that came after them in retaliation. They both bolted down an alley where it opened up to another road with more of them. Taking a sharp right, they scurried down a flight of stairs that a dark teen was leaning on the railing of.

“Move it!” Scar yells pushing him almost over the edge. 

“Sorry!” Ash apologized for her for what seemed to be the hundredth time today. The teen caught himself and yelled back.

“Hey watch i-,” He stops as he sees who they are running from and starts to follow them. “Nevermind!”

After an hour of running they finally were able to lose their pursuers by turning into a dark alley behind a bar. The dark teen leans against a wall as he tries to catch his breath. Ash has their hands on their knees looking at Scar as she stands alert. After a minute she relaxes, slumping down against the wall.

“They’re gone.” Ash breaths in relief.

“Girl, how can you be sure?” asks the teen as he looks around paranoid. Ash turns their head to look at him. 

“They’re now a block away. They can’t hear us.”

“That…” he takes a shaky breath. “that was too close.” The dark teen stands and looks at the pair.

“Man, you almost got me in with you. I can’t even be around here without being spotted.”

“You can’t be around?” Ash asks confused.

“Yeah. Look, I can tell that y’all are new around here, but you really don’t wanna mess with that gang.”

“Who are they anyways?”

He hesitates looking around before speaking with a quiet sad tone. “...They call themselves, _The Trappers_. In the middle of the night, they go to various kids and offer protection. But as soon as they get them, they take’ em. “

“Strange name,” Ash says.” Do they have a preference? Height, gender, age?” They questioned.

‘Power?’ Scar comments in with the mind link.

The dark teen hesitates once more.“Well...um… how do you feel…”

**_CLANK_ **

Scar whips around to see a grunt with a lead pipe running at them to attack. Without thinking she uses her powers to rip the weapon out of their hand. Everyone stops, staring at what just happened. Lifting her hand and creating a sphere of energy. 

“If you want to live I suggest backing away.” She growls before the grunt runs away.

“About mutants?” Scar speaks for the first time as she looks at him. “Don’t worry, it’s kinda hard to hate someone like yourself.”

“Also it’s _they_ but if you can’t do they it’s him thank you very much.” Ash interjects and stands a little angry.

“I take it that they might have tried to nab you at some point.” Scar says knowingly as she leans back on the wall. He chuckles. 

“Yeah, they were in for quite a shock though.”

“What’da do?” Ash asks with excitement.

“Well…” The teen lifted his hand. They look in awe as his hand starts to spark and become electrically charged.

“Interesting Static.” Scar smiled amused.

“...That was a terrible pun.” Says Ash with the most disappointed look on their face. Scar just shrugs.

“It fits.” she says.

“That’s true, they did get shocked.” Static smiles. “Seriously though, you don’t wanna mess with them. I got lucky that they didn’t have any of their big guns. Especially their Ice Blaster.” 

“Ice Blaster?”

“I swear if that’s another pun…” complained Ash.

“If it is, it’s warranted. It’s what they literally call her.” Static says. 

“Her?” Scar raised her brow.

“Yep. She’s the boss’s Nuli and she stays with him and goes wherever he goes. This also includes drug deals and dealing with dealers. Once they see her in the fray, they all surender to whatever demands her boss has.”

“She’s that intimidating?”

“More like what she can do, along with the fact that she has no freedom and whatever the boss says, she does. And when she’s not at the dealings, she’s in a cage in the boss’s office. As are most of the other mutants they also have under their control.”

“How do you know all of this?” Ash and Scar question at the same time. The newly nicknamed Static jumps at the pair's synchronization. 

“It’s fairly common knowledge about how _The Trappers_ handle their weapons.” He says confused.

“I want to see photos.” Scar demands.

“What?”

“I want photos.”

“Of what?”

“Of every drug deal, every meeting, any time that this girl is in public view. If they’re using SHIELD technology to control her, I want to know immediately.” She pushes even more. Static looked puzzled before clarity came to him. He looked at her in realization. 

“You’re not going to do what I think you’re going to do.”

“What?” Asked Ash, wondering where this was going.

“How would you feel about doing a prison break?” Scar says without looking at them.

“Are you insane?! Did you not just hear me? Their Nuli could literally freeze us all if the boss tells her to.” He yells with fear and concern for their sanity.

“I’d actually like to see those photos too. It’d give us an idea of what we’re up against.“ Ash admits, looking at Static expectantly.

“No! There’s no way you’d win doing that!” He said, waving his hands wildly. 

“It can’t be that hard.” Scar states waves of his concern unimpressed.

“I mean, we did knock a god off of a building…” Mumbled Ash. Static’s eyes bug out as he does a double take.

“You were there during the invasion?!” Static screams before being hushed by both of them.

“Well, we were the enemy at one point.” They said with raised shoulders. Static just stares at them confused.

“Eh?!”

“It’s a long story.” Scar shrugs.

“Well, I guess we can go to the library and see if we’d be allowed to use the computers there.” He says, finally caving into their demands.

“Good enough. Let’s go.” They turned a corner, following Static while weaving through the various people out and about on a late lunch break. After about 10 minutes of no one saying a word, Static broke the silence.

“So, how did you guys get where you are?”

“Well, it started when SHIELD decided to take us from our families or they were the ones who dropped us off at their doorstep. The story of her and my life respectively.” Ash responds and Scar grunts in agreement.

“Okay...But what’s SHIELD?” He asks them, they both stop in their tracks to stare at him like he’s lived under a rock.

“...Are you serious?” Scar deadpanned. Static raised an eyebrow.

“Do I look like I have the capability to joke around?”

“Yes. But at this point in time no. SHIELD is a US organization that supposedly is supposed to protect the country even more than they have already. However, their methods are very contradictory. In mine and Ash’s case, we were held in captivity because of our abilities and their inability to ‘control us’.” 

“ _The Trappers_ are exactly like that. But...how are they getting away with it?”

“The same way _The Trappers_ are, through intimidation and knowing who’s on your side, who’s not with you but won’t snitch, and those who just don’t give a shit. The government doesn’t even acknowledge our existence, unless it’s to imprison them.” Ash and Scar explained, going back and forth. He wasn’t sure if he’d gotten all of that, but he nodded anyways.

“Damn. Well, here’s the library.” The building itself was made out of reddish bricks with large windows showing the inside. There were hundreds of bookshelves, with some being so tall that there was a ladder which had tracks that went all the way around the shelves. As they walked in, they noticed that not a lot of people were in there. 

“How much of their activity is available to the public?” Scar asks as they claim the farthest computer. 

“If I’ma be honest, not much. But I can be persuasive.”

“Then do it.” She ordered as Static sat in the chair.

“Yes ma’am.” He said, giving Scar a mock salute. After about 10 minutes of watching, Static gives a small hum. Indicating that he found something.

“Static, what’du got?”

“Alright, you see here? This is from one of their older dealings, before they had gotten a lot of their mutants.” The photo was very pixelated, showing only rough shapes and mute colors. In the top right hand corner, a masculine figure was just in frame.

“Who’s that man in the red suit?” Ash asked.

“He looks like he wants to get shot.” Scar added.

“That’s Miles “Seeker” Siker. He’s the one that goes ahead of everyone else in the dealings to make sure that it’s not a set up.” Static explains, going through some of the other photos from different crimes.

“Is that why he’s wearing red?” Ash asks. Static gave out a long, drawn out sigh.

“It’s a code around here. Red means that they’re not dangerous but are the whistleblowers. There are other colors too, like this one,” His fingers twitched with electricity. The screen flickered a bit before a small video of about 15 seconds popped up. Not great quality, but much better than the previous photo. Static points, “She’s wearing blue, that means that she’s the main dealer, and the ones in green and purple are her bodyguards.”

“Why do they establish everyone’s role with a color for it to be clear to everyone?” Ash asked. He just shrugged.

“Well, these are photos of their early meetings. But if you look at earlier ones, they all start wearing all black.” Static pointed towards a new set of photos. These ones were better quality, but not by much. It seemed that none of them had a gender. The people were boxes of black with no distinguishing features.

“Not all black.” Scar corrects. Static glanced back at her.

“Really?” 

“Yeah, look at their wrists. They’ve got bands of some kind there and on some of their ankles.” She pointed out, the boxes of black did indeed had a band of color on their wrists, some red, some green, and one blue.

“Where...oh I see it. It seems that they didn’t get rid of their color scheme after all. How’d you see that?” Static says, impressed at Scar’s ability to notice them.

“It’s something that you learn after being in captivity. Always looking for that way out.” Scar said nonchalantly. The other two shocked at the direction of that comment. 

“That got dark real fast.” Ash states. She just shrugged again.

“Yeah, but not fast enough to stop these guys.”Scar mumbled as Static went through other photos before something caught her eye. “Hey wait!”

“What?” Static confused at her sudden outburst.

“Go back. Go back, right there. Is that the Ice Blaster you were talking about?” She points to a picture of a fuzzy figure shooting ice out of their hands, aiming at the police. They had bright blue hair and were dark but not much other than that could be seen.

“Looks like it.” He verifies, making the picture bigger.

“Well, can you find any other pictures about our mystery girl?” 

“It’ll take some time...” 

“I’m sorry you three, but the library is closing now, I suggest that you save what you're doing and come back at a later time.” A young librarian, a woman in her early 20’s and probably a part timer approached them. Static quickly compressed the tab so she couldn’t see it.

“Oh, okay.” He says as he begins to try and erase any evidence.

“Could we print some pictures before we go?” Scar blurts out, slightly startling the young worker. 

“Please?” Ash tags on, looking as cute as they could. She gives them a resigned sigh.

“Oh alright. But no more than 5.”

“Thank you!” Ash chirps as Static lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. He quickly picked out the photos that they had looked at and sent it over to the library printer. As they were all waiting for the pictures to print, Static turned to Scar.

“Good call asking to print the pictures. We would’ve needed to come back at a busier time.” He said as he grabbed the last of the photos out of the printer. Scar looked at him confused.

“Libraries get busy?”

“Well this one’s near a college, it’s filled with students most of the time.” He says, organizing the photos and placing them in Ash’s small bag. Making sure not to get any creases in them.

“Good to know.” She nodded as they all went to walk out the door.

“Hey, I never got your name.” 

“I don’t have one. Unless you count the nickname that Ash gave me, Scar.”

“Okay, Scar. Wait so, are we seriously going to do this?” He said, looking between both of them looking for some trace of them kidding.

“Do what?” Scar asked as Static as making his own hair stand with his static electricity.

“Take down _The Trappers._ They’re a big gang, they practically control most of New York.” Static said as he frantically looked around for any loose ears. 

“So we start off small. Take out the weaker branches and work out way up.” Ash stated, as if it would be no big deal with a bit of enthusiasm.

“As much as I’d like to continue, we’re still in the public eye.” Scar noticing Static’s behavior.

“Shit, you’re right. Do you two have a large enough place to get set up?” Static said, a bit relieved but still on edge.

“Will an abandoned apartment complex work?” Ash asked.

“Good enough.”

“Let’s get going, the sun’s about to set.” Scar looked over the horizon as the sky started going pink.

“Okay.” He agreed and they all started walking towards their temporary base. Unbeknownst to them, someone was watching them. A bird mutant looked over the street. Black with accented red feathers, with a mark of a cage with the letter ‘T’ trapped inside. They creep into the shadows while holding a phone saying, 

“I have eyes now, boss.”

* * *

Scar and Ash in SHIELD.


	7. The Hunt Is On

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kip: Sorry it took so long to update, we were working on Steve vs. Cap: The Showdown and thought that it wouldn't take too long... also school's a thing so this will probably take longer to update than usual...
> 
> Shade: I do to much research for fanfics, that's why I don't wright much.( I'm the director, editor, concept artist, researcher, and the one who keeps continuity, they wright.)

The dark sky casted itself over New York as a man in a maroon suit swirled his glass, his Sidecar danced before settling again. He looked out over the sea of skylines with Stark Tower’s construction low beeping in the background. A flock of birds flew around the penthouse as the man looked in reflection of his glass. There, a black cloaked man stood behind him. A smirk lifted onto the suited man’s face as he lifted his head, staring into the crescent moon. 

“Ah, my 16th favorite pet and 3rd favorite spy, Red Kite. Back so soon?” At its title, the man’s cloak swept to his chest as large, red wings expanded outwards and fluttered. The man slightly nodded before kneeling. 

“Yes Laoban. I have followed and found a mutant that is similar to one that the Parent Company was interested in.” Laoban simply hummed before sipping the Sidecar.

“Don’t forget, the Stockholders want them as well.” He warned, demanding attention with a calm tone.

“Is it because of the outbreak of 2 mutants and that false god?” Red asked, rising from his kneel. Laoban looked over his shoulder, piercing him with but a glance.

“You know better than to speak out of turn Red Kite.” He stated as he traveled to his desk. All papers, pens, and inks were placed with perfect spacing on top of the varnished oak. 

“My apologies Laoban, but they share a striking resemblance-”

“Silence!” He shouted, slamming his drink on the desk. Toppling a small potted Amaryllis and a crystal Lotus, sending both to the floor. “They may fit the bill, but we don’t know for sure.” Quiet rattle of chains echo through the room, as a young teen raises her hand.

“Suoyou zhe, permission to speak.” The girl’s blue hair and dark skin shone grey against the lights. Her clothes were plain with a red ‘T’ in a cage on her shoulder. 

“Yes?” Laoban impatiently drummed his finger on his now slightly cracked glass.

“Why don’t you have a human spy follow them around and take pictures to send to the Parent Company?” Red Kite tensed as Laoban took another sip of his drink while glaring at the girl. 

“Good idea Nuli. But follow orders, don’t make them.” He warned as Red took a small sigh of relief. “Red Kite.” He quickly bowed, not wanting anger placed on him.

“Yes Laoban.” 

“Gather up my ungifted spies. Brief them through the mission. And if they fail, remember them about Jona.” He said as he turned to look out onto the night sky once more.

“Consider it done.” With that, Red Kite took off without another word. As soon as he was gone, Laoban sat at his desk, and started working.

“Nuli, you will not be fed tonight because of your comment.” He stated, not once looking up from his work. 

“Yes Suoyou zhe.” The girl bowed before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

* * *

“What shit have I missed?” Scar abruptly asked Static. He had only been up for five minutes and it’s too early for this shit.

“What'd ya mean?” He asked, rubbing the last bit of drowsiness from his eyes.

“I mean, what do I need to know to pretend to be a normal person?” Static gawked at her, mid stretch. 

“You weren’t joking when you said you were imprisoned for 3 years were you?” He asked, slowly standing up straight.

“Why would I joke about that?” Scar sincerely asked. Static ran his hands through his hair as he collected his thoughts. 

“Okay...well...your grumpy attitude fits well in any part of New York, you just need to be less outwardly murderous.”

“How?”

“Um… just like, do you have a reason to murder these people?”

“No.”

“Then don’t think about murdering them-” Scar raised an eyebrow. “I’m trying okay?!” 

“You’re going to wake Ash up.” She warns, glancing over at the sleeping form of Ash turning in their sleep.

“Sorry...but what’s the game plan?”

“What?” A sleepy Ash rolled towards them. 

“Morning Ash. Did you sleep well?” Scar greeted as Ash stood up, cracking their back with a quick motion.

“Kind of. Did I hear something about a game plan? Are we taking them down now?” They asked, reaching for their torn sneakers. Scar shook her head.

“No, not now. We need more information.” 

“And you need to catch up on history.” Static tacked on.

“What happened in the last 3 years that I need to be caught onto?”

“The Alien Invasion?” Both Ash and Scar looked incredulously at him. “Um...the political state and Iron Man among other things.” Scar just shook her head.

“Just tell me who’s in charge of some things but I could care less about who runs this country.”

“Cool, anything else?” He mock-saluted, pulling down his shirt.

“ _ The Trappers  _ and their bases of operations.” Ash waved their finger in the air as if casting a spell. Static dropped his arm and stepped back.

“And how are you going to do that?”

“Stakeouts.” Both Ash and Scar said, glancing at the other, mildly surprised.

“I ain’t going.” Static stated, sitting legs and arms crossed on the floor.

“You’re being a coward again.” She deadpanned, mirroring him until he huffed a self deprecating laugh.

“Look man. If they see me, they’ll take me too. Like the rest of them.” He lazily waved his arms to prove his point. Scar sighed deeply, pinching the bridge of her nose. 

‘This boy I swear…’

“Fine. Then you can get us more information, a timeline of sorts.” She compromised. Static huffed again before nodding and rising from his position.

“Okay, I’ll be at the library then.” 

‘What’re the chances he’ll run when he’s by himself?’ If anyone in this group would run if they’re by themselves it’s Static. 

“I think I’ll join you. There must be something in those books I could use.” Static, now standing, pouts at Scar, silently fuming while Ash raised an eyebrow, amused. Ash snickered in their hand as Static continued to pout before clearing their throat. 

“I guess I’m doing stakeouts by myself?” They asked, fidgeting with their hair. Static finally stopped pouting and did a nod.

“If anyone asks, just say that your parents are begging on another street. Also, get as much money as you can.” Static said, speaking from experience.

“Okay. Wait, if I’m out begging and you two are in the library, then not all of us are using the mental link.” Static’s face scrunched in confusion and fear as both Scar and Ash looked at him in deep thought.

“Mental link?” He asked, ready to run before Scar grabbed his elbow.

“You’ll learn on the way. And Ash, if you can, make sure you get 2 cheap phones that can make calls. That way we can communicate outside of the mind link.” Ash nodded as they spoke in said mind link.

‘Are you going to tell him?’ Scar tapped her pointer finger to her mouth a few times thinking while Static looked between them confused again.

‘Later.’

“You two are confusing me.” 

“Don’t worry about it. Ready?” She shook her head and waved off Static’s concern turning to Ash.

“Let me just grab a coat.” They said, looking around the room. Scar just sighed.

“We don’t have coats…”

“Okay. Ready!” Ash chirped nervously, making their way out with Scar and Static following them shortly after.

* * *

The library door dings as the two of them walk in. Scar led Static over towards the history section in dead silence. And yet, it was too loud. Light murmurs around the lounge were in full conversation volume to Static. Everything was loud. Even people breathing was getting too loud. He tried to get some distance but Scar grabbed his elbow again and openly glared at him. Static’s static field started to flare up, causing small crackles of electricity to surround him before he forced himself to calm down. Scar nodded as she picked up a book and started towards the computers.

“Hey, uh Scar?” He said, trying to fill the loud silence with small talk. 

“Hm.” She didn’t even look up from her book. You dragged me over here yet you’re not paying attention to me. Rude. 

“I know you said not to worry about it…” He didn’t wanna say this out loud in case it’s mutant related like her energy ball.

“Spit it out.” Her monotone voice coupled with her murderous face made Static make room between them before speaking up again.

“W-What’s a mental link, and should I be scared of it?” He silently cursed himself for stuttering. Even though Scar was about a head shorter than him, she suddenly felt much taller as she pierced him with a single glance.

“Very.” She stopped in front of the computer they had used the night before. 

“So should I call you when I’ve got something or…” 

‘I’ll know.’ Scar said. He turned to her as she was still reading her book, a painful expression on her face. ‘We do not need to alarm the others.’ It was as if the air got sucked out of him. She was talking to her, without moving her mouth! People with puppets can do the same, but with her powers...

‘...Is this what the mental link is?’ He hesitated, thinking loudly in his mind. Scar nodded her head.

‘Yes. Now, get to work at the computer, I’ll be around.’

‘Yes Ma’am.’ Static thought as he sat down. No need to be told twice! No sir! After a bit of searching and ‘hacking’, (and Scar reminding him to stay on task) he finds incomplete police reports about some of the recent victims. They seemed to be mostly filled in just not, submitted? Turned in? What’s the term for stuff like this? Don’t matter.

“It appears-”

‘Quiet.’ He jumps as Scar’s voice interrupts him.

‘Oh, right.’ He forgot about that... ‘Anyways, it appears that although no one knows for sure where the different ‘bases’ are for  _ The Trappers, _ they have been spotted at and around the ports. Along with various middle to lower middle class neigh-borhoods, travelling in large groups. But I’m not sure what they would be doing there. I would’ve thought they’d be in poorer neighborhoods to blend in like we are.’ He reported, hearing several book pages being turned but didn’t dare look away from the screen.

‘They could be literally shipping people out by the ports, and their holding places could be in the neighborhoods.’ She slowly said. ‘After all, they have more police around poorer neighborhoods and are more likely to get caught. The reason we don’t get caught is because we’re a smaller group and can split up more easily.’ That...made sense. But...

‘How do you know all this? You were locked away for years!’ 

‘It’s a miracle what can happen when you sit down and read.’ She said, mildly sarcastically as a thick book, twice as large as a text book slams on the table, startling everyone including Scar as she winces at the sound.

“Yip!” Static  **_“_ ** manly **_”_ ** squeaked as several eyes locked onto the two of them before turning back to whatever they were doing. “Don’t scare me like that.” He hissed. Scar just shrugged.

“Get used to it. Have you found anything else?” A librarian walks by with a stern eye as Scar rolls hers. “Types of people they like more than others, any specifics?”

* * *

“Stark!” Tony pinches the bridge as he rolls his eyes. Why? Why is he here now? He flipped the man off in a mirror that he was sure he could see.

“Ah, angry pirate. Make it quick, I'm busy rebuilding your mess.” ‘Because you won’t’, he finished in his head. A weird mixture of hums and grunts is all he gets in response.

“I plan to do so as long as I’ve got your attention.” Fury said, strictly business like. Tony huffed as his suit started blinking and tilting its head.

“You know Eyepatch, I’ve got ADHD so my attentions’ going everywhere else.” Speaking of which, his holo computer glowed to life, saying that one of the large skeletal fish things was found. Fury’s voice started just fading.

“Really? Why wasn’t that on the psychevele?”

“Fury.” A female voice said. When did Natasha get here?

“Generally only those trained and have a PhD do something like that.” JARVIS stated, gesturing with the suit. Whether that was to get Tony’s attention or to prove a point, he doesn’t know. But now he does have his attention on Fury whose nodding in he thinks’ agreement.

“Very well. During the invasion we lost 2 of our mutants and who knows what they could be doing now that they’re out in the open?”

“Getting therapy?”

“Like you?”

“That’s besides the point.” Tony turns to face Fury. “Why do you want me to get involved?” Cause I’m not someone whose skill sets are-

“You’re the most inconspicuous out of everyone in SHIELD. Besides, you’re closer to where they were last seen. You have a better chance of finding them than anyone else.” Fury hadn’t even finished talking when Tony’s jaw hit the floor.  _ WHAT?!  _ Those words seemed to have the same effect on Natasha as she lightly glared at Fury while looking in disbelief. After a minute of silence, JARVIS cleared his robotic British voice, snapping everyone out of their trance.

“Or I could just leave them alone and they may come on their own.” Tony shrugged as he began to turn back to the screen.

“You wouldn’t let the Hulk run around by himself would you?” Natasha questioned. At that point, Tony lost his cool.

“Okay. 1:  _ Banner  _ is a person, not a monster. 2: As long as you don’t piss him off, the Hulk won’t get out and hurt people. And 3:-”

“Either you find them or we find them and we won’t be pleasant.” Fury cut in, crossing his arms and glaring with one eye. Tony stopped and considered his limited options for a few moments before sighing.

“...Fine. Now leave me to do my work.” He said, turning his back to them and typing furiously.

“As you wish, Stark. Romanoff, make sure to check in every two weeks, if not more, to keep him up to his word.” Fury said, keeping his voice down. Natasha glanced back at Tony before nodding.

“Yes sir.”

* * *

The streets are full with many catching trains to work or home. Ash weaved between most and stopped at a fire hydrant. This seems like a good place, they thought to themselves as they sat down. They pulled out a small tin can and placed it in front of them and waited. Many didn’t notice them but some would drop a few coins or $1 bills which they would smile and walk away. They may be getting money, but there weren't any signs of  _ The Trappers  _ anywhere. 

“Here kid.” An old man stood before Ash, handing him a small cheap burger from McDonalds. They looked at him and slowly took it from him. 

“Oh, thank you sir. But, shouldn’t you have it?” They asked, taking in the man’s appearance. He was far dirtier than they were and smelled of old cigars.

“No. You’re far younger than I am and have a chance to grow out of this.” The man gestured to himself then to the various people going about their lives. “I’m 76 years old, almost all my family got crushed by a collapsing building about two blocks away from here. The others all fled to other parts of the country to live a better life. There’s nothing much for me left. So I give what I have to others who may need it.” The man turned on his heel and disappeared into the crowd. Ash stared at the man as long as they could before turning to look at the small burger. It wasn’t hot but it wasn’t cold either. One thought came across their mind and one thought only.

‘I’m going to help this man as much as I can.’ And that’s what they did.

“Sir.” Ash stood in front of the old man like he had to Ash before and held money with a bag of food. “I know you said that you give to others, but I was wondering, may I share this with you?” They asked, moving closer. The man just shook his head.

“But you worked for that food. I cannot accept it.” Does he feel guilty about getting help?

“You worked for the food that you gave me. I’m just being a good person and returning the favor.” They tried, but the man shook his head again.

“You’re young, kid. You’ll need it more.” That answers that question.

“It would be better for the both of us to help the other out.” Ash insisted, holding out the food and using their best puppy eyes. The old man huffed a laugh and gingerly grabbed the handle of the food.

“Well, if you insist.” The two of them talked and shared stories for many hours. The old man was Herold. He didn’t remember his last name cause all of his kids got married and changed their names. He had served in the Marines for 15 as a Gunnery Sergeant then got medically discharged after having a strip of metal impale him nearly going through completely. They also got more donations than they would if they were by themselves. The two of them split the change with Ash getting more of it, much to their dismay. They were about to go their separate ways before Herold stopped them. 

“Hey, be careful around these streets okay?” He warned.

“Why?” They asked, checking for any loose ears. 

“Various people, kids especially, are being nabbed right off the streets. It doesn't matter how big your group is or time of day it is. They’ll nab you and you’ll be gone.” He whispered. I knew I was getting information, but I didn’t think I’d get it here...

“How long has this been going on?” He shrugged and looked over the calming sea of people going home for the evening.

“It’s always been a thing, but it seems that it’s been going up lately.”

“What do they look like?” If it’s  _ The Trappers  _ I swear...

“They all wear black. Although some of them had different colored bands on them. I saw a band of green on one of them as they nabbed a young black girl with bright blue hair once.” Why does that description seem familiar?

“You didn’t do anything?”

“I’m old and that was years ago. There wasn’t anything that I could do.” I should not stick around you then.

“Okay...I’ll keep an eye out. Thanks for looking out for me, even if you wouldn’t back then.” They said as they walked away. The money gathered throughout the day felt like the chains from SHIELD. Yet they continued on, to the library.

* * *

“Oh hey Ash!” Scar greeted them as they weaved their way past various bookshelves.

“Hey.” Static nodded his head, concentrating on the screen in front of him.

‘Did you find anything useful?’ Scar’s voice echoed in their mind. They half-shrugged.

‘Well I didn’t find any of the branches, but I did find where they found their victim pool.’

‘Really? Where?’ Static turned away from the screen, facing Ash as best as he could.

‘So you know where the buildings and reconstruction is?’

‘They find them there?’ Scar asked with a raised brow.

‘According to the people.’ Ash shrugged as Static sat in thought before nodding.

‘That makes sense. New buildings, even construction in general is a hot spot for young taggers to get their names out there where people can see it.’ 

‘And that’s where we’ll be.’

‘What?!’ Static shrieked as Scar shut down the mind link. She grit her teeth as she nearly fell on top of Static. They both looked over in concern while Scar regained their ability to breathe. Ash helped Scar into a chair with her still half-bent and Static frozen in fear.

“Can you take us there?” She spat out, straightening her posture. Static blinked once, twice, thrice before he began moving again.

“Going verbal now? Okay, sure. Lead the way Ash.” He rose and made his way around Ash to be on the other side of Scar. Ash nodded as they helped Scar stand up.

“Alrighty then. Next stop, construction zone.” Scar immediately tried to wiggle out of their grasp before settling on leaning on Ash’s shoulder.

“Remember, we’re only at each location for five minutes max. We’re trying to stop people being victims, not become victims ourselves.” She said as they all but hobbled out of the library, gaining varying looks from everyone they passed.

“Isn’t it a little late for you though?” Static mumbled. Scar turned to him and lightly shook her head. 

“No. Just because you become a victim once doesn’t grant you immunity for the rest of your life.”

“Well, we’re here.” Ash stopped. In front of them was an apartment complex not unlike the one that they’re living at. This one isn’t as run down as theirs but almost seems to be in worse shape with various chunks of the walls missing and windows shattered. There were some crains and several other machines left unsupervised in the darkness. The three of them hid near some of the construction equipment and waited.

“Time’s up.”

And waited...

“Time’s up.”

And waited...

“Time’s-”

“Hey! Let me go!” A boy cried out in the darkness. 

“What’re you doing! Leave him alone!” The sound of a young girl made everyone spring into action.

“Third time’s the charm.” Static mused as he ran faster. Three men in black suits with red accents stood before two school kids, with one of them, a boy, clenched by the stomach and in the air, kicking and screaming.

“Jeo, get the girl too!” The one holding the boy hostage yelled as both Ash and Static entered the fight.

“Not today!” Static shouted as both he and Ash clocked two of them.

“You! Call the police.” Scar called out to a black man walking by. He raised his hand defensively and pulled out his phone.

“Don’t let me get hate crimed.” He said as he began dialing. 

“Deal. Come on you two, over here.” Scar rolled her eyes before trying to get the kids to come towards her with her eyes glowing a slight bluish tint.

“Why?” A hidden fourth man reached forth to grab the girl before being knocked out by an elderly man.

“Trust her, go.” He said as he walked towards Ash and Static while holding a thick medium water pipe.

“Come on now.” Scar tried again as the kids ran towards her and hid behind her.

“Ah!” Ash screamed as their hair got tugged by a grunt and was forced to the ground. He repeatedly bashed Ash with a metal bat, almost knocking them unconscious.

“Jak, gimme a-” The grunt said before being smacked by the pipe from the man. Ash sat up as their body started turning into brass. The man looked shocked at Ash as the last grunts made a ditch effort and turned their attention to the man. One of them only made two steps before he was electrocuted by Static and the other got bashed by Ash’s now metal hair.

“You don’t have awake privileges anymore.” Static said as he turned to the man. 

“Herold?” The man smiled and nodded before giving them all thumbs up as sirens started coming closer.

“Keep close to him now. He’ll keep you safe for now.” Scar said to them as she, Ash, and Static made their quick get away with red and blue lights blinking in the background.

* * *

Tony Stark, genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, the Man of Iron himself, was now a blackmailed spy cause SHIELD was being a dick. As he was watching the (hopefully) last security footage with the news playing in the background, he heard shoes thudding across the room towards him.

“Yeah yeah, I’m looking for them…” He sighed as he opened another tab.

“You know that if you don’t, Fury will.” Natasha stoically stated crossing her arms.

“I also know that the whole reason he asked me was so that he wouldn’t have to deal with me later.” It was now Natasha’s turn to sigh.

“That doesn’t mean-”

“Sir.” JARVIS interrupted as the news’ volume increased.

_ “New at 8; earlier this evening, there was an attempted kidnapping of two school aged children thwarted by an elderly man and what seem to be three teenagers, all of which appeared to be homeless. The attempted kidnappers all seem to be a part of a mystery gang that has been sweeping the city. For more information we take you to Rose. Rose?” _

_ “Yes. Here we have the old man that helped save the kids. Sir,-” _

“So what you’re telling me is that you failed so spectacularly that you made it onto the news?” Laoban boredly spoke into his phone as he laid back in his chair, legs crossed.. 

“I-It wasn’t my fault sir. The teens were mutants.” The grunt stuttered on the other side. He slowly sat up and glanced at the large T.V playing the interview with a man named ‘Herold’. 

“Excuse me? All of them?”

“Well, not all of them sir. But one of them was one you wanted, one was one you said to look out for. The girl was just there.” They said. Laoban slowly hummed as he made his way across the room.

“Interesting. I’ll use this information as I see fit. Enjoy prison. I’m not bailing you out.” 

“Wait-”  _ click _

“Well Nuli, it seems you may be getting a new friend sooner rather than later.” Laoban said as he looked at her and smiled before looking across the towers of New York.

Meanwhile, in Homeless City...

“Excuse me, are you the man from the news?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> spot the hidden mcu character


End file.
